Showing papers in "Cognition and Instruction in 1991"

Cognitive Load Theory and the Format of Instruction

Abstract: Cognitive load theory suggests that effective instructional material facilitates learning by directing cognitive resources toward activities that are relevant to learning rather than toward preliminaries to learning. One example of ineffective instruction occurs if learners unnecessarily are required to mentally integrate disparate sources of mutually referring information such as separate text and diagrams. Such split-source information may generate a heavy cognitive load, because material must be mentally integrated before learning can commence. This article reports findings from six experiments testing the consequences of split-source and integrated information using electrical engineering and biology instructional materials. Experiment 1 was designed to compare conventional instructions with integrated instructions over a period of several months in an industrial training setting. The materials chosen were unintelligible without mental integration. Results favored integrated instructions throughout th...

Evidence for Cognitive Load Theory

Abstract: Dixon (1991) and Goldman (1991) have provided thoughtful commentaries on Chandler and Sweller (1991). The general issue they raise concerns the scientific procedures we should use when conducting research in cognition and instruction. It is an issue of great importance, and we welcome the opportunity provided by their criticisms to discuss the techniques we use. To clarify the findings based on cognitive load theory, we begin by indicating the essential characteristics of a theory concerned with cognition and instruction, followed by a brief history of cognitive load theory to make clear that it has these characteristics. These statements will then be used to address specific comments made by Goldman and Dixon.

The Function of Conceptual Understanding in the Learning of Arithmetic Procedures

Abstract: School children learn arithmetic procedures by rote rather than by constructing them on the basis of their understanding of numbers. Role learning produces lack of flexibility, nonsensical errors, and other difficulties in learning. Mathematics educators have proposed that, if arithmetic procedures were constructed on the basis of conceptual understanding of arithmetic principles, then procedure acquisition would not suffer from these difficulties. However, little effort has been invested in clarifying this hypothesis or in proving its viability. We propose a theory of conceptual understanding and its role in the learning and execution of arithmetic procedures. Our hypothesis is that conceptual understanding constrains problem states and, thereby, enables the learner to monitor his or her own performance and to detect and correct his or her errors. A novel knowledge representation, the state constraint, captures this view of principled knowledge. We propose that learning occurs when state constraints are ...

Children's Interpretations of Arithmetic Word Problems

Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to investigate children's interpretations of standard arithmetic word problems and the factors that influence their interpretations. In Experiment 1, children were required to solve a series of problems and then to draw and select pictures that represented the problems' structures. Solution performance was found to vary systematically with the nature of the representations drawn and chosen. The crucial determinant of solution success was the interpretation a child assigned to certain phrases used in the problems. In Experiment 2, solution and drawing accuracy were found to be significantly improved by rewording problems to avoid ambiguous linguistic forms. Together, these results imply that (a) word-problem solution errors are caused by misinterpretations of certain verbal expressions commonly used in problem texts, and (b) these misinterpretations are the result of missing or inadequate mappings of these verbal expressions to part-whole knowledge.

Effects of Examples and Their Explanations in a Lesson n Recursion: A Production System Analysis

Abstract: Two studies examined how examples and their explanations affect learning to program recursive functions. The results are analyzed in the context of a production system model of analogical problem solving, cognitive skill acquisition, and practice. In Experiment 1, subjects received an example of a recursive function, were trained to criterion on one set of recursive functions, and were tested on transfer to a larger set of recursive functions. The structure of the example solution (how it was written) was explained to one group of subjects, whereas the process generated by the example (how it worked) was explained to another group. The explanation of structure was found to reduce training time when compared with the explanation of process. In Experiment 2, subjects were presented with examples that shared many parts of their solutions with training problems (high-similarity examples) or shared few parts with training problems (low-similarity examples). Examples reduced errors on the first opportunity for ...

Promoting Positive Transfer of Different Types

Abstract: In two experiments, we produced large instructional effects with task-specific instruction, measured four procedurally distinct kinds of transfer of the instruction, and examined the effects on transfer of adding three metacognitive instructions to task-specific instruction. One experiment studied intellectually normal children, and the other observed mentally retarded adolescents. Task-specific instruction by itself resulted in significantly different rates of three kinds of transfer for both retarded and nonretarded subjects. Our added metacognitive instructions differed in the extent to which they supported metacognitive activity, and the instruction that was least supportive resulted in less transfer by retarded than nonretarded subjects. Discussion focused on (a) the implication that common elements theory of transfer may need to be elaborated to allow for the possibility that the sharing of some kinds of elements by teaching and transfer situations promotes more transfer than sharing of other kinds ...

The Impact of Computer-Based Tools and Embedded Prompts on Writing Processes and Products of Novice and Advanced College Writers

Abstract: This study examined the impact of computer-based tools and embedded topical and rhetorical prompts on college writers. Two types of organizational tools, an outliner and a graphic idea organizer, and the prompts increased the conceptual planning of both advanced and novice writers. There was no correlation, however, between the amount of planning and the quality of compositions. Increased planning corresponded to better compositions only under certain conditions; there was an interaction between treatments and level of writer. Advanced writers both planned more and wrote better compositions when they used the idea organizer with prompts. Although novice writers with this treatment also planned more, their compositions were actually worse. The compositions of novice writers were best when they used the out- liner with prompts. An analysis of the verbal protocols examined the relationship between the features of the software and the prompts, the skills of the writers, and the connection between plans and co...

Meanings of Skill: Effects of Abacus Expertise on Number Representation

Abstract: Research on expertise has focused on the amount and organization of domain-relevant knowledge as the key feature distinguishing experts from novices. The representations of experts are described as being more functionally organized as well as more detailed than those of novices. There are two different senses in which knowledge could become more functionally organized with expertise. The knowledge of experts could become more functionally organized with respect to the execution of skill, or their knowledge could become more functionally oriented with respect to contexts broader than their particular skill. Abacus skill provides a domain in which these two alternatives can be evaluated. The first alternative, conceptual determination by skill, implies that abacus experts' representations of numbers should emphasize the features that are functional in their calculation strategies. The second alternative, conceptual transparency, implies that experts should not emphasize abacus-specific features when judging similarity of numbers, giving less weight than novices to abacus features when judging abacus representations and no more weight than novices to abacus features when judging numerals. Conceptual transparency occurs when those features important in performing a skill are judged to be of little significance in understanding the skill. Number similarity judgments of abacus experts and novices from Taiwan and American children of comparable ages indicted that abacus skill was associated with a deemphasis of those features that are unique to the abacus. Implications of the phenomenon of conceptual transparency for models of skill development are discussed.

Making Reading More Difficult: A Degraded Text Microworld for Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies

Abstract: The purpose of educational microworlds, broadly conceived, is to permit focused learning of a part within a context that preserves essential characteristics of the whole. We investigated a microworld intended to provide opportunities for more focused learning of reading comprehension strategies than are provided by normal text reading. The microworld consisted of texts degraded by blanking out every third letter. Study 1, using thinking-aloud procedures, showed that gifted seventh-grade students used meaning-based strategies similar to those identified with skilled reading comprehension, provided they were required to identify the topics of degraded texts before attempting to decode them. Study 2 showed that average seventh graders did not use such strategies spontaneously, but could be taught to do so, and that the instructed group significantly improved its ability to read degraded text. Study 3 tested transfer to comprehension of normal text. Significant transfer was found for a group in which meaning-based strategies were explicitly taught and practiced through reciprocal peer tutoring but not for a group that had comparable practice in decoding degraded text without strategy instruction.

On the Derivation of Instructional Applications From Cognitive Theories: Commentary on Chandler and Sweller

Abstract: In "Cognitive Load Theory and the Format of Instruction," Chandler and Sweller (1991) report a series of experiments that focus on presentation formats that optimize learning from diagrams accompanied by ancillary text. This series of studies continues a line of work in which Sweller and his colleagues (Cooper & Sweller, 1987; Sweller, 1988; Sweller & Cooper, 1985; Tarmizi & Sweller, 1988; Ward & Sweller, 1990) have shown that students who study worked examples perform better than students who actually work the problems. Sweller (1988) proposed cognitive load theory as an explanation of these results, indicating that the critical feature of worked examples is that they appropriately direct attention and impose a relatively light cognitive load. Similarly, other presentation formats that accomplish these goals should also facilitate learning.

The Effectiveness of Instruction in Cognitive Strategies in Developing Proficiency in Single-Digit Addition

Abstract: This study compared the relative effectiveness in developing proficiency in single digit addition of direct instruction in cognitive strategies with practice activities designed to facilitate invented strategies. Forty children were matched on sex and written pretest scores and were randomly assigned to either strategy instruction or practice. Posttesting was conducted after 12 weeks of instruction. A delayed posttest was conducted after another 8 weeks. On all dependent measures, the children from the practice group performed as well as, or better than, the strategy instruction group. Although approximately equal numbers of children from each group were detected using the strategies, the practice group used them more effectively. The data indicate that practice produced more effective learning and more effective strategy use.

From Research to Theory to Practice: Commentary on Chandler and Sweller

Abstract: Despite the progress research in cognitive science has made in the last few decades, it remains a challenge to demonstrate important practical benefits of this research. Too often it seems that the practical implications researchers can draw from their theories are either obvious to experienced practitioners or have small or tenuous effects in the real world. The article by Chandler and Sweller (1991) contrasts dramatically to this customary state of affairs: They apparently have found a simple characteristic of instructional materials that has dramatic effects on performance in real-world tasks. However, their article raises a number of deeper questions regarding the relation between research and application that will be the focus of this commentary. I argue that the best way to generate important practical results is to develop and test theories of mental processing that are concerned with variables and tasks that are important in the real world. Chandler and Sweller have not taken this approach, and th...